Three hundred or so “student-activists, outside agitators, and professors” formed a mob at the university student union to protest the the event, with many of them blocking people from entering the auditorium. “This is what democracy looks like!”

As Shapiro spoke to a relatively calm audience inside, protests erupted outside the event room. Protesters assaulted, harassed, intimidated, shouted down, and berated event-goers, according to Daily Wire reporters on the scene. One attendee claimed that he got “punched in the ear” by a protestor. Before the speech began, members of the school’s black student union reportedly assaulted Breitbart journalist Adelle Nazarian.

“You’re here to incite violence!” the protester repeatedly shouted through his bullhorn. (By being there, she did seem to incite their violence.)

A handful of university police roamed the student union, peering in and out of the central demonstration site. However, the officers refused to respond to the chaos and allowed protesters to physically block access to the event space. Three lines of protesters stood in front of the door, telling those interested in attending the speech to “F*ck off.”

Daily Wire reporters were told to walk away as protestors stood as sentries in front of the door, using their bodies to block all entry to the event room. CSULA is a taxpayer funded public institution. The protestors turned self-appointed gatekeepers effectively denied access to a public space. None of the individuals blocking the door were security guards or police officials.

Here’s the audio of Shapiro’s speech.

After the speech, campus police told Shapiro that it was literally “a threat to life and limb” for the audience members to go out there. So they were stuck in the auditorium until the Maoist mob had dispersed.

Well, they were right about one thing. All too often, that is exactly what pure, direct democracy (mob rule) looks like. And it respects neither the rights of individuals nor the value of individual human life. Stand for free speech today, or kneel in front of a ditch and wait for a bullet to the back of the head tomorrow. Yes, it can happen here.